Surely you will never come to mind to tell the chief, "Hey, buddy! How are you? "Except for those rare occasions when get on his face and head, and a friend, it is inappropriate. At the same time in the course of official correspondence we allow ourselves even more ambitious bloopers. But, you know the etiquette business letter is necessary to look solid and have a good reputation. We tear off the front of you all the veils that hide the truth, and explain how to properly communicate with business partners.

The specifics of the business relationship

If you want to understand how to write letters to work, you need to know what business communication is different from the usual. Like any other, it involves the exchange of information, interaction and perception of each other. But the main feature of business communication is that there is almost no personal component. For example, at work or in any public organization, we practically showed no characteristic features of our character not kidding, do not shout, do not dance, etc. ... On the contrary, we put on a mask of quiet, polite, and a business person who does not proshibesh.

In business communication is not the place to emotions. None of your partners, colleagues or customers are not satisfied if you suddenly start crying or jumping for joy. No, of course you're not a robot, but something close to it. At least, you have to avoid bright and deep emotions.

Another feature of business communication - it is impossible to stop when you want it. That is, in ordinary life, this also happens, for example, when you are talking in-law or parents. But in the professional sphere it is quite impossible to leave, if a customer or business partner you about something ask. Also ignored his letters, messages and calls - there is a risk of losing their jobs after that. That is why the different requirements for the vacancies so popular line about stress tolerance, and work as a team, because in a business environment, you have to face and deal with all kinds of people.

In business communication is always a goal. If the kitchen with friends you're going to just talk (although this, too, stand for their needs), then you come to work with certain people with fairly straightforward concept. This can be a discussion of the project, planning the organization's work for the next six months or anything else. Accordingly, this feature forms the character of business communication: sustained, "dry", a fast, clear and without digression. At least, that's how things work in most situations.

General etiquette business letter

Naturally, the written language is very different from the verbal: there you can not intonation accents. And the rules of etiquette in this case much more - at least, so it seems at the moment, when you decide to write a business letter.

We should also mention the paper. If earlier, speaking of the letter, you immediately imagine the snow-white envelope, dipped in a mailbox, but now the situation has changed. Regular mail are less and less, while the e-gaining its momentum. We should not forget that the paper for letters must be perfectly clean and battered - it is a question of reputation. It is desirable to have a letterhead with the logo and phone number for business correspondence. All pages, except the title, should be numbered.

However, ordinary mail is increasingly used not to send emails, and to send contracts and other business documents. Communication is at the mercy of e-mails. By the way, when you need to quickly resolve any issue, and appropriate treatment and greeting each repeated message can be omitted. But first letter anyway should begin with a design like this: "Good afternoon, Mr. Smith ...".

In writing (especially business) special importance literacy. When you're just talking to someone, you just avoided a deliberate speech errors and roughness, placing the accent right. The letter also may become apparent gaps in all your knowledge of the Russian language. Therefore, if you do not feel confident in their own literacy, before sending the letter better once again check for grammatical errors. Do not forget to write the beginning of the sentence with a capital letter and punctuate, because without this it is very difficult to understand the meaning of the message. Use a dot for the omissions and structuring of the text.

Talking about the style of communication, we should not forget that your letter in the first place, must be "readable". That is recommended to avoid complex multi-level structures and unnecessary words (except when you - a lawyer, or it is necessary for correspondence). Bring living examples, dilute the text diagrams and charts - it makes the information more visible and understandable. Language of business correspondence, in contrast to the usual, often rife with jargon and cliches - this is an etiquette rule.

The nuances of business correspondence

Earlier we talked about the general business correspondence etiquette. However, there are multiple nuances, the description of which is not something that is worthy of a separate article, but the whole book. We have selected for you the most popular and important features of the business letter. Please find them.

The structure of the business letter

Like any other, a business letter has a clear structure. But that's normal if it may be quite varied from case to case, and depending on your desires, in the service notification has pretty strict rules of writing. At the same time there is no single standard by which most of the letters issued - usually every company has its own rules. Nevertheless, we offer the most general framework of e-registration of a business letter that will be relevant in ninety percent of cases.

"Hat" the letter corresponding to the corporate style

Remember, a little higher, we talked about the need for each company to have their own solid brand paper forms? The same goes for e-mails. If you still do not exist, the authorities suggest this initiative. Of course, the technical support department you curse, but a letter from your organization will look more respectable.

Greeting

The business message is not necessarily a greeting as such (the word "hello" and "good afternoon) - instead, it is recommended immediately contact the recipient by name and patronymic. However, if the correspondence interpersonal, but bears formal character, it would be appropriate poprivestvovat his interlocutor in the first letter.

The main contents of the letter

This piece of information has the highest load: in it you disclose the purpose of their treatment. There may be several aspects, respectively, each presentation should begin with a single paragraph. Isolation is necessary due to the fact that on every issue, as a rule, to take independent decisions. Examples include the following phrases: "please", "inform", "offer consideration", etc. ... Remember that in aspect also has its own structure. You need to prove the relevance of the request, to disclose its contents describe the expected outcome in the event of a satisfactory answer and formulate certain guarantees for the destination.

Farewell

Unlike normal conversational speech, in business letters not used direct verbal formula. The aim of the final phrase is an expression of respect and a tribute to politeness. For example, "Sincerely," "best wishes", "respect", "advance grateful for the answer," etc. ...

Personal signature

It should contain your name, surname and patronymic, position (possibly with the name of the department), as well as contact numbers. Without this, it is often very difficult to keep in touch with the person. By the way, there is now the option of an electronic signature. It is a special file with a text signature that automatically affixed at the end of each message. Its use is considered good form in large companies. In addition, it can act as an unobtrusive ads in your organization. If we talk about the size, the electronic signature must not be more than five or six lines and exceed the amount of seventy characters.

A link to the organization's website and logo

These are the same elements of corporate identity, as well as letterhead. Also, if you send promotional offers or offers of cooperation, that your recipients will be pleased by the fact that they do not need to search through the entire Internet in search of information about the company.

It should be remembered that this is quite universal structure can vary depending on the type of message. Promotional stand, thank you, guarantee and cover letters, invitations, notices, statements, reminders, warnings and demands. But virtually all of them applied this structure.

The size of the email quite clearly stipulated etiquette norms: as a rule, it must be less than twice than handwritten. If you want to send a large amount of information in the body of the letter itself better to put a short accompanying text, and the rest to issue as a separate attachment. In those cases where it has a large amount of more than one megabyte, the destination better about it to warn - not all companies pay for unlimited access to the Internet.

Replying to a message

You probably noticed that when you press the "A" ("Reply") when sending messages to the theme of the reply letter appears particle "Re ...". It helps your recipient to understand the message of what you said. In the window that opens and the text preceding correspondence. Erase or save it - that is the question.

It all depends on what level of formality has correspondence. Simply put, if you are chatting with a friend or some other person with whom the optional very official style, you can delete the excess, leaving a line that allows to understand what is talked about. For convenience, you can also split his letter to these same quotes and under each of them put his answer. If the correspondence should be in the framework of the formalities, you keep its contents intact.

Speech formula

As you can see, business letters almost entirely built on all sorts of clichés or clichés - Expressions that demonstrate a particular phenomenon. It is very useful to have at hand, "piggy bank" of these same formulas that can be combined with each other and write long letters in semi-automatic mode. About obligatory greeting we wrote above, so we turn to less occurring, but equally relevant thoughts.

The expression of regret: "We regret to inform you ..." "Unfortunately, we can not accept ..." "To my regret, we are faced with ...";

Praise: "Thank you for ..." "Let me express my appreciation to you for ...", "Considering your huge contribution to ..." "As you are leading experts in their field," "Thank you for ...";

Invitation, underlined the positive emotions: "We would be delighted to hear from you ..." "Please accept our invitation, and we hope that you have time ..." "We are honored to offer you ...." "I am pleased to invite you ... ";

The final phrase: "We hope for further cooperation," "We are looking forward to you for new ideas," "expresses its confidence that the problem will be resolved in the near future", "We wish you success";

Terms of response to emails

So, you have sent a message, and the answer is not. It is logical that you start to worry whether the recipient has received your message. In order to avoid this unpleasant situation in the future, use the "receipt", thanks to which you will automatically be sent to confirm that your message has been viewed. Either enter the string with a request to do so in a text message. An alternative way of checking is also a simple call to the addressee with the question of sending letters.

In general, according to the norms of etiquette of business communication response should not be delayed for a period of more than two days. If you need more time, then you should inform your partner by correspondence. And, of course, do not forget, that is responding to all letters (with the exception of obvious spam) - a guarantee of your business reputation.

Any kind of social norm implies an agreement facilitates the participants to communicate their interaction. But ignorance of these rules can bring a lot of problems to partners through correspondence. Therefore, print this article and hang it on the monitor - and very soon all voiced our standards themselves come into your consciousness, no longer bring you any inconvenience.